Know Your Personality Type Using Jungian Typology

May 27, 2017

Typology from a Jungian perspective deviates from earlier classifications which were based more simply on observed temperamental or emotional behaviors. Carl Jung’s Model explores the movement of psychic energy that influences the ways in which one habitually and preferentially orients oneself to the world.

First I will explain the Two Personality Attitudes: Introversion and Extroversion. According to Jung:

“Introversion is normally characterized by a hesitant, reflective, retiring nature that keeps itself to itself, shrinks from objects {and} is always slightly on the defensive.” Whereas…

The way I describe these Personality Attitudes, is the primary way energy flows in one’s psyche, meaning, how we manifest our energy source. Introverts can be ‘extroverted’ in the sense that they are not necessarily shy, but, they refuel their energy from within, usually requiring periods of solitude. Conversely, Extroverts manifest their energy reserves by seeking outer resources and experiences.

To completely come to know one’s Typology fully as expressed through the Two Personality types is to understand the four main functions, each having their own personal expertise: Thinking, Feeling, Intuition, and Sensation.

Thinking: Basically, this is the process of cognition. The right hemisphere of the brain processes What something is.

Feeling: This is the function of subjective valuation or judgement. The right hemisphere of the brain processes the emotional energy pertaining to the object.

Intuition: This is how one perceives things by way of the unconscious. In other words, individuals who have intuition as their primary function have a heightened receptivity to unconscious content.

Sensation: This function is how one perceives material by use of the physical senses: Touch, Smell, Sound, and taste mainly.
(Personality Types, Jung’s Model of Typology, Daryl Sharp, 1987).

Through various scales such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or the Gray-Wheelwhrights Jungian Type Survey, the analyst can ‘score’ the various functions and their accompanying attitudes, providing one with a ratio explaining their primary and inferior functions. Typically, we have 3 primary functions and the fourth being the inferior function. With this information we can not only more fully understand how we function and perceive the world and others, but also, have a direction for our own personal growth, more specifically, where a portion of our ‘work’ should concentrate, namely, developing our inferior function. Or at the very least, bring to consciousness how our inferior function effects our relation to the world and others/relationships. In couples work for instance, this understanding of ourselves and our partners can assist in communication patterns and incorrect assumptions partners can make regarding the intentions of their significant others.

There is much to learn about Typology. This brief description provides the basic structure and foundation for the beginnings of self-awareness and personal growth.